Sorry for my absence on the thread Rudi, hopefully I can help out with a couple of things:
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James: Did you pick up the mistake in the text? I've referred to the top deflector being the one wrapping around the pintle - it should be the lower one 
I'll be fixing this in the text, so future readers may not see this slip-up. Am I correct in my estimation of how the upper deflector should fit?
No I missed it, but you are of course correct. However, you should really be using the version with the towing pintle, as due to lack of room inside the vehicle itself an ammunition trailer of rounds was usually towed behind the M8.
You have the upper deflector bang on where it should go.
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Hmmm,
For the last few days I've been struggling with 2 pairs of ammunition clamps, which per Tamiya and Eduard, hold 2 rounds of ammunition below the turret roof. Unfortunately I haven't been able to find any references to these. So I decided to merely fit the clamps (after breaking 1) sans rounds.
This has really been bugging me though, so I decided to see if Mike Bedard's build of the TMD kit could shed any light. Alas it does... the so called ammo clamps shouldn't hold 2 rounds of ammo, but rather 2 carbines Perhaps the rounds were held there in an early or test version of the HMC, but I can't find evidence of this - it appears to me that both companies got this very wrong.
So before I post Step 5, I'll correct this. But now I'm off to see if I can pick up Tamiya's US Infantry weapon set. We are not amused
Rudi
I'm inclined to beleive Tank Worshops research over Tamiya and go for the Carbines. Tamiyas research in the past tended to be turning up at APG and copying whatever they saw warts and all, which along with making their kits motorized caused all the accuracy issues these kits have.
The Eduard PE clamps are litlle b*&&*£s, I assembled 1 and found it didn't fit the carbines, so not sure what they are playing at. I'll be making my own clamps or tie-downs for the carbines me-thinks.
As for the radio, it seems to have been cleared up, but it was kept in the lower hull, as can be seen on my build below. I don't think the rear turret overhang would have provided enough protection from the European weather, plus it would simply have been in the way of the 75mm breach and the .50cal mounting.
Taking of this I suggest you source a different .50cal to the kit peice as its a pretty poor rendition. I'm using the excellent academy US machine gun set, though a later Tamiya or DML offering would also be a good improvement!
Hope to see some more progress soon, you can catch me up while i'm working on another project! Saying that I did post an
update today.
James
